Ahmedabad (2), A Stepwell, Gandhi and a Thali: Gujarat Part 2

Gujarat: The What, Where, When and Who

India

Gujarat

This post covers day 2 of a 14-day journey around Gujarat, following our circuit of Rajasthan last year. Smaller than Rajasthan, Gujarat is about the size of the Island of Great Britain and has much the same population.

5,000 years ago, Gujarat was a centre of the Indus Valley civilization and subsequently played its part in most of the major north Indian empires. When Islamic invaders reached northern India in the 9th century Gujarat held out until 1300 when it became part of the Delhi Sultanate.

Our trip round Gujarat was hardly the neat circuit of the Rajasthan tour, and we did make variations to the plan mapped out here, but if we did not see everything the state has to offer, we saw as much as anyone could in the time available.

An independent Muslim sultan seized power in 1391and Gujarat maintained its independence until becoming part of the Mughal Empire in the 16th century and later the British Empire, though local rulers of a patchwork of Princely States retained considerable autonomy. At independence in 1947 Gujarat was part of the State of Bombay, becoming a state in its own right in 1960.

With a long coast line facing the Arabian sea, Gujaratis have been seafarers and international traders for millennia.

Gujarat is the home state of both Mahatma Gandhi and the current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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Adalaj Vav, a Jain Temple, Sabarmarti Ashram and Vegetarian Delights

Waking refreshed and largely adjusted to the new time zone, we enjoyed a good Indian breakfast. Vijay arrived on time and we set off for Adalaj.

The Adalaj Stepwell

Adalaj is 20km north of Ahmedabad, just far enough beyond the urban sprawl to be a separate small town. Its main attraction is a 15th century stepwell (vav in Gujarati). Stepwells are usually ponds rather than wells, constructed in semi-arid regions to collect the water of the monsoon rains. Over 120 were built in Gujarat alone between the 4th and 19th centuries, serving as stopovers for caravans and venues for festivals as well as providing for local needs.

Many are utilitarian, but we had previously seen fine examples at Hampi in Karnatika and Bundi in Rajasthan so thought we knew what to expect. Adalaj Vav was like nothing we had seen before.

Set in its own small park, there is little to see from above…

The Adalaj stepwell from above

…but once you step down from the entrance everything changes.

Entering the Adalaj stepwell

There are five storeys...

Descending the Adalaj stepwell

...of finely carved pillars and beams…

Fine carving in Adalaj stepwell

….until you reach water level where you can look up to see the sky, but not down to see the water as that has been covered for safety.

Adalaj stepwell, looking up from the bottom

The Story of the Beautiful and Virtuous Queen Rudabai

The well is credited to the beautiful Queen Rudabai (spellings vary) and there is a legend behind it. Like the story of Queen Padmini at Chittorgarh Rudabai is valued mainly for looks, and again the virtuous and beautiful woman ends up dead. Despite the problems, I enjoy these tales (sorry).

In the late 14th century, Rudabai’s husband Rana Veer Singh ruled over the small Hindu kingdom of Dandai Desh. To alleviate the endemic water shortages, he began work on a large stepwell at Adalaj.

Before the project was completed, Dandai Desh was invaded and occupied by Mohammed Begada, the Muslim ruler of a neighbouring kingdom. (I presume that 'Mohammed' Begada and Mahmud Begada who was Sultan of Gujarat 1458-1511 and built the tank we saw at Sarkej Rosa yesterday are one and the same). Veer Singh was killed and Queen Rudabai attempted to perform sati and join her husband in death. However, Mohammed Begada hated to see an attractive woman go to waste, so stopped her and proposed marriage.

Rudabai agreed to marry him provided he completed the stepwell. Besotted by her beauty, Begada built the well in record time, and started planning the wedding. But Rudabai’s only desire had been to see the completion of her husband’s work; she walked once round the completed well, prayed to the gods and jumped to her death.

Fine carving even on the watchman's booth, Adalaj stepwell

There may be a flicker of truth in the story, but little more. If the well was built at speed to facilitate Mahmud Begada getting his hands on Rudabai, why bother with so much decoration?

Hutheesing Jain Temple

We returned to Ahmedabad and stopped at the Hutheesing Jain Temple (spellings vary, our itinerary had two different spellings in one sentence) dedicated to Lord Dharmanatha, the 15th Jain Tirthankara, and started in 1848. It was planned and financed by wealthy local trader Shet Hutheesing Kesarisinh at the instigation of his wife, though she sadly died with only a ceremonial foundation stone laid. Hutheesing persevered with the temple and remarried but died shortly afterwards. His new widow Shethani Harkunvar took over, supervised the construction and brought his first wife's dream to fruition. It makes a pleasant change to have an Indian story where a woman is more than just decoration.

Hutheesing Jain Temple, Ahmedabad

Outside is a Kirti Stambh or tower of victory. Forgetting Jains’ pacifist beliefs, I foolishly asked Vijay which victory it commemorated. ‘The Victory of Truth’ he replied. It is a typical Jain tower, the design having changed little over the centuries. We saw two very similar towers in Chittorgarh fort last year, one a 12th century tower beside a Jain temple, the other 15th century and built by a Hindu ruler who co-opted the idea to celebrate a military victory.

Kirti Stambh, Hutheesing Temple, Ahmedabad

The rectangular temple compound is much bigger than it appears in the photograph. We walked round the courtyard looking at the 52 shrines and ended up observing a service in the centre; the faithful having gathered to pray for peace between India and Pakistan. Prayers were offered, there was chanting and much throwing of rice and pouring of milk. After the Indian Air Force strike against a terrorist training camp inside Pakistan on Monday, and a subsequent retaliation by the Pakistanis their actions were appropriate. Ahmedabad is not far from Pakistan, and within the next ten days we would come very much closer to the border, so we had personal as well humanitarian motives for hoping for peace.

Photographs were not permitted inside the temple, so here is a picture of a squirrel instead. Cute isn't it - I like the way its tale is camouflaged against the tree.

Squirrel oustide the Hutheesing Temple, Ahmedabad

The Sabarmarti Ashram

A short drive across the Sabarmarti River took us to the Sabarmarti Ashram where The Mahatma Gandhi lived from 1918 until 1930.

The Mahatma Gandhi

We first visited the recently built museum which tells the story of his life through quotes, original documents, photographs and paintings.

Ghandi in the Sabramarti Ashram museum

Mohindas K Gandhi was born in Porbandar on the Gujarat coast in 1869. After finishing high school in Ahmedabad, he studied law at University College London and at the Inner Temple where he was called to the bar in 1891. In 1893 he went to work in South Africa, joined the struggle for civil rights and first became involved in non-violent civil disobedience. Returning to India in 1915, he organised protests by peasants, farmers, and labourers against excessive taxes, becoming leader of the Indian National Congress in 1921. Congress gradually increased its demands until, in 1930, its aim became full Indian independence.

Gandhi as a law student in London, photo in public domain, sourced from Wikipedia

In the same year Gandhi led the great Dandi Salt March. The 400km 24-day mass protest against the British imposition of a salt tax started from the Sabarmarti Ashram and finished at the village of Dandi in the Navsari district of southern Gujarat (see map at start).

Gandhi campaigning, Sabramarti Ashram museum

Gandhi's Life at the Ashram

The ashram consists of a number of small buildings housing Gandhi, his followers and guests

Sabramarti Ashram

Hriday Kunj, where Gandhi and his wife Kasturbai lived and worked…

Hriday Kunj, Sabramarti Ashram

… is a simple six room bungalow built round a courtyard.

Inside Hriday Kunj, Sabarmarti Ashram

Gandhi’s original writing desk and charkha (the wheel on which he spun the yarn for his own clothes) are kept there.

Gandhi's writing desk and charkha, Hriday Kunj, Sabamarti Ashram

Morning and evening prayers were held at the open air Upasana Mandir, now a place to let sleeping dogs lie.

Upsana Mandir, Sabarmarti Ashram

The ashram’s peaceful atmosphere made it easy to forget that we were still in an urban setting and the backdrop across the Sabarmarti river was a jarring reminder.

Gandhi spinning cloth in the 1920s. Picture in public domain, sourced from Wikipedia

Gujarati Thali

Gandhi was noted for his abstemiousness. Sadly, the same cannot be said of me; I lack the self-discipline; indeed I do not want that self-discipline. This is only one of the reasons my lifetime’s achievements do not match up to Gandhi’s, but at least I can have a good lunch. (as Orson Welles said ‘Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what’s for lunch’)*.

Gandhi was a vegetarian – like the vast majority in Gujarat – and we rarely ate meat during our Gujarati sojourn (indeed it was rarely available). Vijay divided the local cuisine into two traditions, ‘Kathiawari’ which originates from Gujarat’s large hook-shaped western peninsula and tends towards fieriness and ‘Gujarati’ which leans towards sweetness. He recommended Gujarati thali as the best introduction and dropped us at an appropriate restaurant.

We have been fans of the south Indian thali since our first visit to India. We have eaten North Indian thali in Delhi, which had fewer dishes, some with meat – thalis are generally vegetarian – and lacked the subtlety. We saw Rajasthani thali on several menus last year, but my only attempt to order it produced dal-baati-churma, undoubtedly Rajasthani comfort food, but not a thali.

Gujarati thali, Ahmedabad
We were a little early (12.30). In the next half hour all these tables were filled and thalis were flying out of the kitchen

Gujarati thali looks like a southern thali, the rice, chapattis and poppadums similarly replenished ad lib. It is though sweeter, two of the dishes we would have called ‘desserts’ – and they brought round a tray of desserts as well – and others had lurking, low key sweetness. Although less fiery than in the south, the spicing was equally subtle and varied. We enjoyed it very much, though I doubt I would ordinarily chose a lunch with three desserts.

Around the Sidi Saiyyed Mosque

We returned to the hotel and had a nap during the hottest part of the day – hopefully the final adjustment to our new time zone.

Refreshed we wandered out to look at the Sidi Saiyyed Mosque which sits on a traffic island opposite the hotel. The mosque, which is completely open-sided, was built 1572/3 in the last days of the Gujarat Sultanate before it was absorbed into the Mughal Empire. It is famed for its ten latticework windows (jalis) in the arches at the back and sides.

Sidi Saiyyid Mosque, Ahmedabad

All contain complex geometric patterns, but the most famous and intricate jali, a Tree of Life, has become the unofficial symbol the city.

Tree of Life jali, Sidi Saiyyid Mosque, Ahmedabad

We took a stroll round because there is always something to see on India’s (too often litter-strewn) streets.

The streets of Ahmedabad

Walking in the road is the norm, the pavements are usually filled with parked motorbikes, blocked by dozing bovines, colonised by stalls selling food, underwear, stationary, whatever or are just too uneven.

The streets of Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad Evening Food Market

We had visited the market yesterday and Vijay had suggested staying until it turned into a food market around 7.30, but we had been too tired after our overnight flight. Feeling better today, we had discussed an evening visit. Vijay immediately volunteered to accompany us. We would have felt guilty dragging him from the bosom of his family, but we knew he lived in Bhavnagar 170km to the south, so he had already been dragged.

Wandering back into the city’s old centre we found part of it laid like a Chinese night market, though in dry Gujarat the ‘beer girls’ who are a feature of Chinese night markets were conspicuously absent.

Ahmedabad food market

Vijay asked if we wanted to eat. A snack would be in order after our sizable lunch, but eating in a market like this in India, where hygiene standards are not always the highest, would generally be considered a risk. On the other hand, we reasoned, guides tend to be risk averse on this topic, so if it was his suggestion it must be alright.

We settled for stuffed masala dosas. Dosas are made from fermented rice flour, so they are a bread of sorts, the stuffing was mashed potato. I really do not want to think about a mashed potato sandwich, but this was delightful, the dosa meltingly thin, the potato so skilfully spiced it did not feel like wading through an ocean of carbohydrate – though it was. And there were pickles and chutney and a glass of buttermilk. The buttermilk on supermarket shelves at home is, I read, a cultured product that has never met a pat of butter, but this was the real thing, the liquid remaining after the churning of butter.

Vijay and Lynne with their stuffed dosas

We bought ice creams on the way back. Well, at 25p each it seemed churlish to refuse.

I am happy to report we suffered no adverse effects. We discovered later, when we came to know him better, that Vijay had suggested eating there on the assumption that we would say ‘no’ and was very surprised when we didn’t. The more we visit India and other south Asian countries the more resistant we seem to be to ‘stomach upsets’ (and that statement is a horrible hostage to fortune!), but we took similar risks throughout this trip without any problems.

*Less flippantly JRR Tolkien once wrote If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world, a sentiment I whole-heartedly endorse.

Gujarat

Part 1: Ahmedabad (1) Liquor Licences, Mosques and Tombs
Part 2: Ahmedabad (2) A Stepwell, Gandhi and a Thali
Part 3: Meeting the Locals
Part 4: Siddhpur, Patan and Modhera
Part 5: Salt and Wild Asses in the Little Rann of Kutch
Part 6: Blackbuck National Park, Velavadar
Part 7: Bhavnagar
Part 8: Palitana and the Temples on Shatrunjaya Hill
Part 9: A Lion Hunt and a Visit to Junagadh
Part 10: Gondal
Part 11: Gondal to Bhuj
Part 12: Bhuj
Part 13: To the Great Rann of Kutch, Craft Villages and a Salt Desert
Part 14: Going to School and Other Entertainments in the Great Rann of Kutch